vCenter Configuration Manager Reviews

I provide services to our customers. We largely use it for automation.

It's allowed us to automate most of the processes that we have in place. All the controls can now update positioning solutions. All of that is done through this software. For the company it's quite valuable, in that it saves resources, however, it also allows the IT team to be concentrated on different tasks. The company is growing and the need to focus on adding more systems etc. is very important. There are a lot of new systems being implemented. By taking manual tasks and automating them, it provides a great value for the customer.

The solution is excellent at automating processes.

Overall, it's a great tool.

There are some complexities within the system center. For example, we use two different applications for updates and the deployment of the machine. We also have another third party solution. 

However, a third-party solution is dedicated to vulnerability management. And all the updates that have to be deployed to a specific product. You spend a lot of time in configuration due to the fact that you need to make sure all of your machines are compliant. Compliance is complicated.

I've been using the solution for about four years.

The stability of the solution is good. We haven't run into any issues with the solution. There aren't sudden crashes. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's reliable.

We haven't had any issues with scalability. If a company needs to expand the solution's services, they can do so easily. From a technical perspective, it's possible.

I've personally contacted technical support in the past.

They were able to assist us with no problem. A few times we managed to sort out the issue ourselves. Still, mainly they do support us. We're quite happy with their services. 

One of the things that puts us at an advantage is the fact that we are not yet running the latest versions. The older versions have less issues that need to be ironed out and patched. Therefore, we're working with versions that have already been pretty much perfected. It means there's less reason to contact technical support.

There's a bit of complexity in the initial setup. There are compliance issues you'll need to sort through. Configuration can take a while because of this.

There may be better ways to do things with System Center that we're not aware of. We always try to look at audits before we try a deployment. How long it takes tends to be decided by what a user wants the solution to do and how the company is set up.

If you want to do something relatively simple like automate updates, however, the deployment is quite straightforward. It doesn't take a lot of time.

Also, if you sorted out configurations and taken the time to fix items and iron out details, the solution will deploy fairly easily and deliver its services well.

For example, a deployment that, if done with some center, may require a workaround to sort out any problem beforehand, but once that's done, everything starts working perfectly.

We're a customer. We don't have a special relationship with the company.

I would recommend System Center. We are going through a technological era where everything is done using technology, and security measures are important. With this solution, security is already in place.

With this solution, a lot of the items are automated, including a lot of administrative work. You can minimize so many things, including security vulnerabilities, simply by using the solution. It's great.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. They lose a few marks due to their general complexity, which takes a lot of time. Users need to take into consideration bandwidth and network usage when they set things up. While the solution does try to minimize resources, it takes a lot of time to get things where you need them to be. It's not straightforward. You'll need to go through many processes before you get there.

We use Configuration Manager at one or two companies where we provide services. I live in Fiji and people don't really go into the detail of compliance and automated configuration. Most things are generally done manually so with the implementation of Configuration Manager it becomes automated. There are some reporting and management tasks involved. We're partners with vCenter and I'm the IT general manager. 

As an engineer, I'd say the most valuable features would be the patch management and templates. Both of these features make my job easier. 

This is a good solution but it has too many configurations for what it does. In that sense, it's not particularly user friendly and requires too many clicks. From reviews I've read, I believe Acropolis might be easier to use in this regard.

I think the solution pretty much covers everything, I can't think of any additional features that might be useful.

I've been using this solution for the past two years. 

The technical support is generally quite good although it depends who you're talking to. Most of the time issues are solved expediently although sometimes it takes a little longer than you'd probably want, but eventually it gets fixed. It's good but it could be better.

The initial setup can be a little complex. It's clear what needs to be done but because of compliance it becomes more complicated. It requires configuring thresholds and standard marks plus automated configurations. It's a matter of implementing some provisioning which can be tedious. I haven't worked with it too much, but it seems quite cumbersome. 

Deployment time probably took a little longer in our case because it was implementing  compliance, patch management and software package distribution, so it probably took a couple of days. We used our own team for configuration. 

I would recommend people use this solution. It can make your life a lot easier and it has a lot of features which could help a system administrator prevent problems and foresee potential issues.

I would rate this solution quite highly but it loses a couple of points because of the complexity so I'll give it a seven out of 10. 

The user interface is very good.

We like the level of technical support that we get using this product.

I don't think there are any features that the solution is lacking.

The solution is already quite user-friendly and offers good technical support, but it could always be further refined and improved.

The solution should allow for more customization.

I've been using the solution for one year.

The solution is stable and we haven't run into issues with bugs or glitches.

The solution is easily scalable. We've found it easy to expand. Other companies should not have any trouble if they need to scale it out as well.

We have about 10-15 people using the solution currently. They're all admins.

The technical support is very good. We've had a good experience with them and are satisfied with their level of support.

VMware is the most popular solution in the market and now everybody is using it. It is the most reliable as well. However, in my opinion, there are not enough competitors in the market, and all offer similar functionality.

The initial setup is quite easy. It's not complex. The solution offers good documentation that assists in the process.

We're just a customer and have no special relationship with vCenter. We use the latest version of the solution.

I would recommend the solution. I'd rate it eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution to control the host.

The feature that is the most valuable for us is the SP portal.

The solution is very user-friendly.

The solution is very easy to manage.

The snapshot functionality on the solution needs improvement. After renewing the snapshot, all of the production was stuck. Right now, its functionality is one of our main concerns.

Aside from the snapshot, everything else is working fine. I can't think of any other features that we'd need in future releases.

I've been using the solution for the past five years.

The stability of the solution is very good. For us, there was no problem at all in our VMware. We haven't seen any bugs or glitches on the solution that would affect performance.

The scalability of the solution is quite good.

Currently, we have about 100 users on the solution.

The technical support of VMware on Dell is excellent. We've been more than satisfied with their level of service.

We didn't previously use a different solution before implementing this one. It's the first provided by Dell. 

The initial setup of the solution is straightforward. We found it very easy. 

The deployment was quick as well. It only took us about half an hour to get everything up and running.

You only need one person to manage the deployment of the solution.

The first time we deployed the solution, the Dell team handled the implementation. Now we are able to handle it ourselves.

We've had the solution for four to five years, but I'm unsure of the licensing costs surrounding it.

Before choosing vCenter Configuration Manager we didn't evaluate other solutions.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. It's a fantastic product.

The feature that I have found most valuable is the virtual machine management across different hosts, located in different areas. This is the most accommodating aspect I have found using vCenter.

In terms of what could be improved, I would say easier management of the whole environment, meaning an easier interface.

Additionally, they could improve the hybrid-cloud environment and its management, not only for the localhost but also including the connection between the public and private cloud.

I have been using vCenter Configuration Manager for almost three years.

It is a stable solution.

vCenter is scalable.

Right now we don't have too many people using the application since we don’t need that many administrators on the environment, so less than 20 people are using it.

The initial setup was not so complex. My team and I did it by ourselves.

I think the first time I set it up the installation took two or three days. My second time was much easier - just a couple of hours.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate vCenter Configuration Manager an eight. I would recommend it.

vCenter Configuration Manager is a central management tool for our virtual environment. This solution is used for the configuration of our users' settings, helping to power the ITIL process. Without it, we would not be able to manage our environment.

The most valuable feature is support for hyper-converged infrastructure.

This solution supports multiple platforms in a single solution.

The cost of this solution should be improved.

I have been using vCenter Configuration Manager for seven to eight years.

I think that this is a stable solution.

Scalability depends on the planning and the infrastructure that is in place.

The initial setup is straightforward. Once it is installed, everything is tested and it looks fine, we can go ahead with the converged platform.

Deploying the proper solution with the features that we are looking for takes about a month.

We use a consultant for helping to deploy this solution.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

The most valuable features that VMware's vCenter Configuration Manager have when compared with other solutions are their disaster recovery and business connectivity capabilities. All the software that VMware produces has very good business connectivity and disaster recovery features.

Configuration Manager should decrease the deployment time in the data center and the management time as this could help many data centers reduce their operating costs.

I think most of VMware's software is easy and simple to use but they lack the capability to manage other systems. When working with some other software out there you have a total solution for managing and configuring your data centers. Many other virtualization systems have this feature, and it would be a good idea for VMware to switch to this approach because I think most data centers are looking for total solutions to manage their data centers. Our trends show that this kind of simple management software is going to be a part of orchestration systems. 

Overall, I think it's good enough to use for most customers who have VMware solutions in their data centers.

I have been working on virtualization for around seven or eight years.

This software helps customers to reduce management operations, including saving their resources and total cost. The basic platform is very good for reducing operational costs. Plus, the automation and easy deployment are very important to many data centers.

In terms of scalability, yes, most of the software that VMware produces is enterprise and scalable and they define the business connectivity and disaster recovery very well in most of their software.

In some cases, I have contacted support when I use the software, but mostly I am helped with the data centers by our in-house engineers. The quality is not black and white. It depends on the engineer that you get, but most of these companies have good software consultants.

The initial setup is perfectly easy to deploy, as well as in other VMware software. It takes less than five hours to deploy.

Most VMware software is easy to use, although you don't need support for deployment, it may be helpful for maintenance.

If you compare the performance between virtualization solutions, I think KVM is better than VMware. But in terms of disaster recovery and business connectivity, VMware has a better-developed software here.

Our company is a data center solution architect and consultant. We look for the best solutions for our customers and we try to find the best one for each project. It doesn't matter if that solution is from a small company or a famous company - we look for the best solution for configuring the situation.

I think before using this kind of software, most companies should train their administrators to ensure that the deployment is perfect. Also, maintenance would be easier if you train your engineers before using this kind of software.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate vCenter Configuration Manager a six. This is because compared to the other solutions such as Microsoft's StoreSafe or Studio Team System solutions or Ubuntu it is not as good. 

This software is specific for VMware products whereas the other software is more flexible.

We are responsible for the planning stage only, and we gradually do monthly-based monitoring and capacity utilization of the IT infrastructure. Based on our findings, we do some brainstorming to determine if there was an error or if it was due to less processing or storage capacity or memory management, those kind of things. So we use this program to do internal planning, basically.

People will purchase this solution because it is cost-effective and it suits ERP or CRM for the virtual environment solution. Azure is currently very popular in India, and some are using VMware on the Microsoft platform or on Red Hat Linux.

I find the vMotion and the DRS very valuable and important, as it is required for any medium or large IT solution for business applications.

Customers who want a business solution, should try to implement the IDL based processes for configuration management, patch management, release management and asset management. It will improve the life cycle management of their solution.

I am very familiar with this program, as I've been using it for almost fourteen years now.

We haven't had any stability issues.

I believe the program is scalable. We have at least three to four people at each site, depending upon the capacity of the internal users within our organization site.

We have support partners with VMware and Microsoft. We give our solutions to the clients based on their requirements, and then we also use the program ourselves. The technical support is not bad. It is good internally for our organization, and we are not facing any problems now. We have not taken platinum support, so our teams that are operating from the client site will have to wait longer to get their problems fixed. That is because every OEM has layers of support for platinum, gold, silver, and those kinds of things.

The initial setup wasn't really complex, it's just that the system integrator and the client should sit together and plan the basic things. They should write down in detail how to collect the information of the IT and non-IT comments, as well as data classification, so that those can be populated into the asset as well as the Configuration Management tool, and subsequently the tool can be used in a better way.

Deployment doesn't take that long. If the data is available, it can be configured within three to four days, after certifying the valid data by the customer. Data collection takes up more time and, again, it depends on the customer, whether it is government or private. If it is government, it takes a little more time because some of the departments will be reluctant to share all their data in one go.

It is an affordable program, but I don't know what the licensing fees are.

In some cases, we require more from the solution than what is offered. We usually map these things into the Configuration Management tool so that they are taken care of or made available faster. I think this should be a part of the program so that those things could be reflected faster.

On a scale from one to 10, I will rate the program between 8.5 to 9.5 because in India some of the medium-sized business enterprises are not having a flexible IT budget for a configuration management tool. They prefer that the system integrator should buy it from his own pocket.